Postcardly turns emails into actual postcards.

My kids have wonderful grandparents in Florida, but they have one major flaw: None of them will make my life easier by joining Facebook or even using email to communicate. That means I have to make sure to send hand-written letters and take the time to actually print out photos of their grandchildren.

As far as flaws go, I know that this is not such a terrible thing, but I do love a new service that makes it so easy to stay connected to our non-connected loved ones — and it’s as easy as sending an email. Even if your recipient is computer-free.

The new Postcardly service turns an emailed note and photo into a full-color, two-sided postcard that will appear, a few days later, in your reciepient’s mailbox. Their real mailbox, that is.

Let’s say I want to send a dozen family members a photo of my kids at their dance recital: I’d attach the photo to a regular email from my computer or mobile phone, enter all the names of my family along with “[email protected]”, then hit Send. My email would appear to my family as normal, but “Grammy” would get a full-color postcard, stamped and all, delivered to her home. Pretty neat, eh? The message on the card is typewritten which is a wee bit impersonal for a postcard, but not too many Grammys would mind.

Sending the first three postcards is free, and they have a few different monthly plans you can sign up for if you like it, which all come out to about $1 a card. So smart for travelers, since there’s no extra charge for international postage if you’re overseas. And, military families: this is a great way to send quick notes to someone you love who is stationed abroad.

One caveat — your message can’t be too long, which is something I struggle with as a verbose person. Also, while I appreciate that I am sent a proof of my card, I would like the chance to edit it if I notice something is misspelled or not to my liking. Since the site is still in beta, I expect to see some minor tweaks going forward. But I think my kids’ unwired, tech-phobic grandparents would agree that this is technology at its best, used for the best possible reason: sending them pictures of their grandchildren. –Christina

Sign up to Postcardly and get your first three postcards sent free. Also, see what a postcard would look like by sending an email with an attached picture to [email protected], no sign up required.